Pinned

One of many things the American OSS commandos in Greece found unusual was the incorporation of female fighters into the armed resistance against the Nazis. The largest Greek resistance organization, EAM-ELAS, which the Americans fought alongside, was left-led and encouraged women to fight and to vote within its ranks. In American Andarte, Stavros, the protagonist and leader of his OSS Operational Group, is assigned to coordinate with an EAM-ELAS unit led by the captivating Dimitra. Her story will enlighten readers about the challenges women confronted during the occupation. Dimitra, having been active in the resistance for longer, is more seasoned than the Americans, whom she often declares bewildering.

In the following vignette, Stavros and a combined column of OSS Commandos and Greek andartes enter a village on the way from Parga, their landing on the west coast of Greece, to Chomori, where they will find quarters. Stavros spots something unusual. He asks the leader of the Greek andartes about the oddity.

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On the afternoon of the third day, the fighters forded the Achelous River and stopped in the village of Loutra. The spring rains had filled the river’s banks, and the fifty meters of submerged rock pathway proved treacherous. The men lifted their weapons, packs, and sleeping bags above their heads and waded. Everyone except those riding horses was soaked to their belts. In Loutra, Stavros noticed the women wore dresses pinned on their right shoulders. He asked Yiorgos.

“They pin their dresses so that the Germans won’t rip and tear them as they have before. The Germans check their shoulders for bruises. They see a bruise . . . they shoot the woman. Or hang her or detain her. The bruises are proof to the Germans that they fired rifles. The only women firing rifles are andartes and reserves.” — SJ Hantzis